In one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent Indian history, an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Wednesday, killing 241 people on board. Among the victims was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was en route to London to visit his daughter.
Flight AI171, bound for London, took off at 1:38 PM with 242 people onboard, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Just minutes into its ascent, the aircraft lost altitude and crashed into a residential complex in the Meghani Nagar area near the airport perimeter. The crash sparked a massive fire and widespread panic in the surrounding neighborhood.
Ahmedabad Police Commissioner GS Malik confirmed that 204 bodies have been recovered so far, with search and rescue operations ongoing. A few injured survivors were rushed to hospitals, including one British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who remains in critical care.
The tragedy also marks a grim chapter in India’s political history, as Vijay Rupani becomes the second former Chief Minister of Gujarat to die in an air-related incident. The first was Congress leader Balwantrai Mehta, the state’s second Chief Minister, who was killed in 1965 when a Pakistani fighter jet shot down his civilian aircraft during the Indo-Pak war. That attack claimed the lives of Mehta, his wife, three aides, two crew members, and a journalist.
Other Indian Chief Ministers who have died in air crashes include Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, who perished in a helicopter crash in 2009 amid poor weather conditions, and Dorjee Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh, who died in 2011 in a helicopter crash over treacherous terrain.
Wednesday’s crash has shocked the nation and raised serious questions about aviation safety. Initial reports indicate that the aircraft struggled to gain altitude, reaching only about 600 to 800 feet before descending rapidly. The plane first struck the mess building of BJ Medical College Civil Hospital before crashing into the Atulyam Hostel, which housed senior resident doctors. Both buildings suffered extensive damage.
Authorities are continuing efforts to locate the aircraft’s black box, which includes the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. Investigators hope it will provide crucial information on what led to the disaster.
